


If You Fall Asleep, It Wouldn't Be The Worst Thing

by EvensDramaticShenanigans



Series: Happy Steve Bingo Fills 2018 [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Accidental Admission of Feelings, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Declarations Of Love, First Kiss, Happy Steve Bingo, Love Confessions, M/M, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Sleepy Cuddles, Sleepy Kisses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 07:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16013042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvensDramaticShenanigans/pseuds/EvensDramaticShenanigans
Summary: Bucky is beautiful when he sleeps. His features are softer: eyebrows smoothed out instead of furrowed together; lips slack and slightly parted instead of pursed in a frown at Steve’s antics or pulled up in a smirk aimed at the ladies and gents of the bars they sometimes go out to. He looks so much younger, too, with all the stress leaked out of his shoulders and not a single worry at the forefront of his mind.Seeing Bucky like this reminds Steve of back when they were both troublesome thirteen year olds, running through the streets and causing ruckus after ruckus. He’d loved him back then, probably just as much as he loves him now. Steve’s feelings for Bucky have always been so strong, just on the edge of overwhelming. Maybe it’s because Bucky’s always been there for him. Always in his corner, ready to back him up no matter what. Or maybe it’s because Bucky never treats him like a china doll, like he’ll blow over from the tiniest gust of wind. He treats him like a person, and it makes Steve feel normal.Sometimes, it makes him feel like maybe, just maybe, Bucky could feel the same way about him.





	If You Fall Asleep, It Wouldn't Be The Worst Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Woop Woop bingo update time!! This one fills the “snuggling” prompt on my card, though I feel like I kiiiiinda got away from that just a little bit thanks to the beginning half of the fic haha. It started out with just the idea for the second half of it but I kind of have a knack for adding more background/build up info that strictly necessary so here we are haha.
> 
> It’s unbetaed, as per usual lol, so all mistakes are my own! Sorry ‘bout it. 
> 
> Title comes from [Little Bird](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY46YTNGhIk) by Ed Sheeran!
> 
>  
> 
> Hope y'all like it! :)

“What the hell is taking so long?” Steve calls from the living room. He’s perched on the couch, fuzzy socks on his feet and remote in his hand, and he’s waiting for Bucky to finish up in the kitchen. He’s been tasked with making the popcorn while Steve sets up the movie, but the microwave went off nearly a full minute ago and Bucky still hasn’t emerged. “You better not be putting any weird shit in my popcorn,” Steve warns, and he can hear Bucky’s answering laughter echoing all the way from the kitchen.

When Bucky finally appears he’s got a big blue bowl in his hand and a wicked smirk on his face that makes Steve groan. “What did you do?” He asks, and Bucky just tips the bowl towards himself so Steve can’t see over the edge. That can’t be good.

“I’m teaching you how to enjoy life, Steve,” Bucky responds, but still doesn’t show his cards. “This ain’t the nineteen forties, pal, we don’t have to just salt everything and call it a day,” he adds.

Steve narrows his eyes at Bucky, not impressed with that answer. “What did you do?” He asks again, pausing for emphasis between each word. 

Bucky settles onto the middle cushion of the couch, still clutching the bowl like it’s his lifeline. If he wasn’t so protective of it’s contents Steve is almost positive that Bucky would be all up in his space like he usually is. Damn bastard’s got no sense of personal space around Steve, and it drives him insane. It makes it so much harder for Steve to swallow down that increasingly growing urge to just blurt out his feelings.

“Close your eyes,” Bucky demands, and Steve instantly raises an eyebrow at him. “C’mon,” he insists. “Close your eyes and open your mouth.”

Steve’s heart jumps at that and his stomach gives an involuntary flop. God, what he would give to hear those words in a completely different scenario. “Um, why?” He asks, though he already knows he’s going to follow Bucky’s directions no matter what. He’s just that whipped, as Sam would say. 

“Just do it. Trust me,” Bucky replies. There’s that mischievous glint in his eyes that Steve knows all too well, but it doesn’t worry him because he does trust Bucky. Always has, always will.

Cautiously, Steve lets his eyes flutter shut and he slowly parts his lips for Bucky. There’s a few seconds where nothing happens, and Steve’s about to crack open an eye to see what’s going on, but then there are fingers at his lips and something warm and sticky touches them. “What the hell—”

“Shut up, just eat it,” Bucky interrupts, pushing the bits of popcorn closer to Steve’s mouth.

Steve obliges and let’s Bucky place the popcorn on his tongue. His finger nudges against Steve’s tongue as he does so, and Steve has to fight back the desire to close his lips around Bucky’s fingers and suck. He’ll save those kinds of thoughts for his dreams, thanks very much. Once the popcorn is in Steve’s mouth and Bucky’s fingers are gone, he closes his lips and tastes. He comes to the conclusion that the sticky that he’d felt before is actually caramel sauce, and though it compliments the saltiness of the popcorn well, it becomes entirely too sweet as Steve crunches into… are those m&m’s?

“Whadda you think?” Bucky asks eagerly.

When Steve opens his eyes, Bucky’s staring at him, wide-eyed and earnest, not unlike a puppy dog, as he waits for his answer. It’s so endearing, and Steve has to bite back the too big smile threatening to overtake his face. He chews contemplatively for a moment before swallowing, and as it goes down he can’t help but twist his face up. “What the hell did I just eat?” He asks, scrunching his nose up at Bucky. 

Bucky deflates a little, but he rolls his eyes at Steve and reaches out to give him a small shove. “Oh, c’mon, Stevie. You can’t seriously tell me that you don’t like caramel and m&m’s. It’s just like caramel corn and everyone loves m&m’s!” He says. 

“That’s not caramel corn, Buck. That’s popcorn with caramel drizzled on top. Those are two totally different things,” Steve replies, shaking his head at Bucky. “And m&m’s are great. Out of the bag.” 

“Whatever,” Bucky says with a fondly exasperated huff. “There’s nothing wrong with m&m’s in popcorn, you’re just no fun.” He sticks his tongue out childishly at Steve before shifting on the couch so that his entire left side is pressed up against Steve’s right side. 

Steve can feel the warmth radiating off of Bucky, and his skin tingles where their arms meet. “Well, if you love it so much then it’s all yours,” he says. “ I don’t know how you can handle that much sugar,” he adds offhandedly. 

“M’just that sweet, I guess,” Bucky retorts cheekily. “Now are we gonna watch the movie or what?” 

“Bossy,” Steve comments, but lifts the remote to press play.

As the opening credits of the movie start to roll, Bucky moves again. He twists his body a little so that he’s resting against Steve more than just merely touching him, and he kicks his feet out to stretch across the rest of the couch. 

It’s only natural that Steve lifts his arm and drapes it around Bucky’s shoulders so that Bucky can wiggle back into Steve’s embrace and use him as a human pillow of sorts.

It’s cozy, way too cozy, and if Steve closes his eyes he can almost pretend that this is their every night. Coming home to each other to snuggle up on the sofa for the evening, watching whatever hoity-toity, artsy crap (as Bucky calls it) Steve’s picked for them, or whichever riveting documentary is catching Bucky’s interest at the moment. Then they’d retire to bed together to share blankets and cuddles and kisses. And in the morning, they’d wake up curled in each other’s embrace and, morning breath be damned, kiss until their lips go numb.

“Hey, are you even paying attention?” Bucky asks, pulling Steve out of his thoughts and back down to earth.

Steve blinks himself back to reality and drops his gaze to meet Bucky’s. He’s twisted in Steve’s arms again, this time so he can halfway face him, and the movement’s only made Bucky press further into Steve’s arms. He’s got one hand resting against Steve’s stomach, too, to hold himself in place. It’s entirely too much contact, yet not quite enough either. 

“Yeah, yeah, m’paying attention,” Steve lies. He fights the urge to brush the stray hairs from Bucky’s forehead and maybe cup his cheek. 

“Alright, you better be,” Bucky replies, poking Steve twice in the chest. Steve’s fingers twitch by his sides, desperate to catch and twine with Bucky’s. “This shit’s so interesting. If you fall asleep…” he trails off, leaving the threat open ended. 

“Got it, okay, no falling asleep,” Steve repeats and lifts his hand to his forehead in a mock salute. 

  
  


Ironically enough, Bucky is the one that ends up falling asleep. They’d shifted earlier in the evening so that Steve’s legs were up on the couch too, and Bucky had immediately snuggled up to Steve and curled an arm around his middle. He makes it about halfway through the film in this new position before his eyes start fluttering, closing briefly for a few seconds before flying open in an attempt to stay awake. Steve only knows this is happening because Bucky’s got his cheek smushed up against his chest, and he can feel the flutter of Bucky’s eyelashes against his collarbones where his shirt has slipped down. Eventually, Bucky’s breathing evens out and his body goes even more slack against Steve’s. Steve takes that opportunity to finally let himself admire Bucky. He’d had to hold himself back from it all night, too afraid of accidentally getting caught staring and having to scramble for some reasonable explanation. 

Bucky is beautiful when he sleeps. His features are softer: eyebrows smoothed out instead of furrowed together; lips slack and slightly parted instead of pursed in a frown at Steve’s antics or pulled up in a smirk aimed at the ladies and gents of the bars they sometimes go out to. He looks so much younger, too, with all the stress leaked out of his shoulders and not a single worry at the forefront of his mind. 

Seeing Bucky like this reminds Steve of back when they were both troublesome thirteen year olds, running through the streets and causing ruckus after ruckus. He’d loved him back then, probably just as much as he loves him now. Steve’s feelings for Bucky have always been so strong, just on the edge of overwhelming. Maybe it’s because Bucky’s always been there for him. Always in his corner, ready to back him up no matter what. Or maybe it’s because Bucky never treats him like a china doll, like he’ll blow over from the tiniest gust of wind. He treats him like a  _ person _ , and it makes Steve feel normal. 

Sometimes, it makes him feel like maybe, just maybe, Bucky could feel the same way about him.

The movie is still playing across the screen, sending luminous colors dancing across Bucky’s face, but Steve’s not paying attention to it. His hand is resting against the small of Bucky’s back from when he’d started absentmindedly rubbing it when Bucky was still awake. Now, he lets it skim up his back and over his shoulder until the backs of his knuckles are just barely brushing against Bucky’s chin. Steve smooths his fingers over Bucky’s cheek, his touch feather light  so as to not wake him, before letting them sink into Bucky’s hair. It’s soft, of course it is, and Steve carefully runs his fingers through it, reveling in the silkiness of the strands slipping through his knuckles.

Steve touches the hand that’s not in Bucky’s hair to his jaw, lets the pads of his fingers lightly sweep across the sharp lines of it before brushing across his chin, pausing against the divot in the center. Steve’s suddenly hit by an overwhelming sense of affection, and before he can really register what he’s doing he’s leaning down and brushing his lips softly, gently, sweetly over Bucky’s forehead.

“You’re so beautiful,” Steve whispers against the skin, his eyes falling shut. He tilts his head to the side so that he can press his cheek against Bucky’s forehead and nuzzle against it. “God, I love you so much, Buck.” It feels good to say the words out loud, even if they fall on deaf ears.

“I love you too, y’know.”

Steve’s heart freezes in his throat and he stills entirely. He doesn’t open his eyes, but keeps them squeezed closed, almost as if he thinks opening them to see Bucky still sleeping then the words won’t be real. 

But then Bucky stirs in Steve’s arms. His body inches up a little and his fingers tighten around the fistful of Steve’s shirt he’s clutching. Steve can feel the way his chin now digs into the skin of his shoulder.

Slowly, Steve opens his eyes. He’s met with the sight of a bleary-eyed, slightly sleep-disheveled Bucky staring back at him with big grey eyes and a delicate, hopeful smile. He’s got a little bit of drool on the corner of his mouth and his cheeks is imprinted with the lines of Steve’s rumpled shirt. It’s totally, completely endearing, and Steve almost gets so caught up in it that he forgets what Bucky just said. 

He doesn’t though, doesn’t think he ever really could. But right as Steve opens his mouth to say something—what, he doesn’t quite yet know— Bucky’s lips are suddenly against his, and he’s swallowing down any and all of Steve’s possible words. 

It’s soft at first, the barest hint of lips on lips, and Steve sighs into it and lets the hand in Bucky’s hair slip down to the side of his neck. But then Bucky’s mouth is pressing harder against Steve’s, a solid, insistent pressure as he parts Steve’s lips and slips his tongue in.

Steve feels breathless in all the right ways, and he clings to Bucky like he’s the only solid thing in an otherwise spinning world. Bucky brings one of his hands up to cup Steve’s face, yet another anchor to reality, and he tilts Steve’s chin just so. The new angle is infuriatingly good, and Steve feels things he’s only ever felt in dreams before. 

The kiss slows again, and then Bucky’s breaking away and pressing his lips to the corner of Steve’s mouth, then high on his cheekbone, over his eyelid, on the tip of his nose. He kisses Steve on the mouth again, once, twice, three more times before pulling back enough to properly look at Steve.

“I fell asleep,” Bucky murmurs. There’s a dopey smile on his face, one Steve’s sure is mirrored on his own, and he rests his chin back on Steve’s chest. 

“You did,” Steve confirms. This time he doesn’t have to try to stop himself from showing his affection, and he drags his hand up Bucky’s neck and up to his face where he runs his fingers over Bucky’s cheek and touches his thumb to Bucky’s lip. He stares at it like he almost can’t believe he just kissed it. “You told  _ me _ not to,” he points out with a laugh.

Bucky’s hand comes up to curl around Steve’s wrist, and he pulls his hand from his face and twists it until he can twine their fingers together. He brings their conjoined hands up to his mouth again and kisses the back of Steve’s hand. “M’glad I did though,” he says softly, and the meaning behind those words is all too clear as he smiles sweetly up at Steve.

“Yeah,” Steve says, his eyes already fluttering shut as he starts to lean down for another kiss. “M’glad too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think with a kudos and a comment!
> 
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> 
> Come say [hi](http://brooklynbabybucky.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> And come check out this cool [discord](https://discordapp.com/invite/8gybKrj) for marvel content creators! You can find more information @marvelcreatorsnetwork on tumblr or feel free to ask about it in the comments!


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